In Memoriam 2025

Wayne Osmond was born on 28 August 1951 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Cemetery Junction (2010), Harrigan (2013) and Land of the Lost (1974). He was married to Kathlyn Louise White. He died on 1 January 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Jeff Baena was born on 29 June 1977 in Miami, Florida, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Little Hours (2017), Life After Beth (2014) and Horse Girl (2020). He was married to Aubrey Plaza. He died on 3 January 2025 in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Peter Yarrow was born on 31 May 1938 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and composer, known for Meet the Parents (2000), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Airplane! (1980). He was married to Mary Elizabeth McCarthy. He died on 7 January 2025 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

Sam Moore was born on 12 October 1935 in Miami, Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for The Great Outdoors (1988), Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) and Julia (2008). He was married to Joyce McRae. He died on 10 January 2025 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Sam Moore is known for Gnomes (1980).

Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future director Jennifer Lynch shortly after he turned 21. That experience, plus attending art school in a particularly violent and run-down area of Philadelphia, inspired Eraserhead (1977), a film that he began in the early 1970s (after a couple of shorts) and which he would work on obsessively for five years. The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasable weird, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz, it secured a cult following and enabled Lynch to make his first mainstream film (in an unlikely alliance with Mel Brooks), though The Elephant Man (1980) was shot through with his unique sensibility. Its enormous critical and commercial success led to Dune (1984), a hugely expensive commercial disaster, but Lynch redeemed himself with the now classic Blue Velvet (1986), his most personal and original work since his debut. He subsequently won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival with the dark, violent road movie Wild at Heart (1990), and achieved a huge cult following with his surreal TV series Twin Peaks (1990), which he adapted for the big screen, though his comedy series On the Air (1992) was less successful. He also draws comic strips and has devised multimedia stage events with regular composer Angelo Badalamenti. He had a much-publicized affair with Isabella Rossellini in the late 1980s.

Linda Nolan was born on 23 February 1959 in Dublin, Ireland. She was an actress, known for Breaking and Entering (2004), The Nolans: I'm in the Mood for Dancing (1979) and Filthy Rich & Catflap (1987). She was married to Brian Hudson. She died on 15 January 2025 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK.

Dame Joan Ann Plowright, the Baroness Olivier, is one of the most distinguished actors of her generation. She may be best remembered as the third wife and widow of Laurence Olivier, generally considered the greatest anglophone actor of the 20th Century, but she had a distinguished career of her own on stage and screen spanning six decades.

Born in Brigg, Lincolnshire on October 28, 1929, she received her training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and made her professional stage debut at Croydon in 1948. Her London debut came in 1954, and two years later, she joined George Devine's English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre, which would change her life just as the drama at the Royal Court revolutionized the English theater.

The Royal Court's 1956 production of John Osborne's 'Look Back In Anger' was a watershed in English theatrical history, ushering in the 'Angry Young Man" era in British cultural life. In 1957, Plowright first co-starred with her future husband Olivier in the Royal Court's production of Osborne's The Entertainer (1960) when she took over the role of Archie Rice's daughter Jean Rice when the play transferred to a commercial venue in the West End. She recreated the role in Tony Richardson's 1960 film of the play.

To escape the notoriety from Olivier's divorce from Vivien Leigh, Plowright and Olivier went to New York, where they appeared on Broadway, he in Becket (1964) and she in A Taste of Honey (1961). For her performance as Josephine, which Rita Tushingham played in the movie version, she won a 1961 Tony Award as Best Actress in a Play. (She had first appeared on Broadway in a twin bill of Eugène Ionesco's "The Chairs" and "The Lesson" in January 1958, a month before she appeared with Olivier in "The Entertainer".) When his divorce from Leigh came through, they were married in March 1961 in New York with Richard Burton as Larry's best man.

From 1963 onward, she was a member of the National Theatre, which was headed by Olivier. Plowright created a distinguished stage career and was acclaimed when she began appearing more frequently in movies and television starting in the the 1980s. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the female equivalent of a knighthood, in the 2004 Queen's New Year Honours.

Plowright divorced her first husband, the actor Roger Gage, to marry Olivier in 1961 and they had three children, Richard Kerr Olivier, Tamsin Olivier and Julie Kate Olivier.

Daughter of Eva, the Baroness Erisso, and Major Glynn Faithfull, a WWII British spy. Recorded the first song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "As Tears Go By" (1964). Involved in a major drug scandal with Jagger, Richards, and others, which ultimately turned public opinion favorably towards the Rolling Stones and other rock groups. In the '70s she became addicted to heroin and was homeless in London's Soho district for a couple of years. Recorded numerous albums in the '80s while struggling with cocaine and alcohol. Has remained sober and productive since.

Excellent, prolific and versatile character actor Peter Jason was born on July 22, 1944, in Hollywood, CA, and grew up in Balboa. He attended Newport Beach Elementary School, Horace Ensign Junior High and Newport Harbor High School. He originally planned on being a football player, but fell in love with acting after playing the lead in a high school production of "The Man Who Came to Dinner." Following his high school graduation he attended Orange Coast Junior College and did a season of summer stock at the Peterborough Playhouse in New Hampshire. He then studied as a drama major at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, PA. More stage work followed with the acting group the South Coast Repertory Company. He made his film debut in Howard Hawks' final film, Rio Lobo (1970) (which Jason says is one of his favorites).

He worked with Orson Welles on the uncompleted The Other Side of the Wind (2018) as an actor, boom operator, prop man and even cook for the cast and crew.

Jason has appeared in many films for director Walter Hill; he's especially memorable as the racist redneck bartender in 48 Hrs. (1982). He has also appeared in many films for director John Carpenter: he's very engaging as the jolly Dr. Paul Leahy in Prince of Darkness (1987) and was terrific as underground guerrilla army leader Gilbert in They Live (1988).

Other notable roles include a sinister government agent in Dreamscape (1984), rugged Maj. G.F. Devin in Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge (1986), jerky detective Fedorchuk in Alien Nation (1988), a newspaper reporter in Seabiscuit (2003) and the U.S. president in Alien Apocalypse (2005).

Jason recently had a recurring role as dissolute gambler Con Stapleton in the superbly gritty cable Western TV series Deadwood (2004). He also had a regular part as Capt. Skip Gleason on Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997).

Among the many TV shows Peter has done guest spots on are Desperate Housewives (2004), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Nash Bridges (1996), Coach (1989), The Golden Girls (1985), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Married... with Children (1987), Roseanne (1988), Dear John (1988), Quantum Leap (1989), Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), B.J. and the Bear (1978), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Gunsmoke (1955) and Hawaii Five-O (1968). In addition to his substantial film and TV show credits, Jason has acted in over 150 plays and hundreds of TV commercials. An accomplished baritone vocalist, Jason has sung in such musical stage productions as "The Music Man" (this is one of his favorite plays), "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off," "The Roar of the Greasepaint" and "Threepenny Opera" (as Mack the Knife). He's been married to his wife Eileen for 33 years.

In his spare time he makes his own furniture with found, recycled wood.

Lynne Marie Stewart was born on 14 December 1946 in Lynwood, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for The Running Man (1987), American Graffiti (1973) and Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). She died on 21 February 2025 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Roberta Flack was born February 10, 1937 (1939 according to some sources), in Black Mountain, North Carolina, a small town located about 10 miles (18 kilometers) from the city of Asheville, North Carolina. She is best known for her love ballad "Killing Me Softly With His Song", released in 1969. She earned a music scholarship to Howard University and graduated with a BA in Music. She briefly taught music after graduation from college. She was discovered singing and playing jazz in a Washington nightclub by pianist Les McCann, and she later signed a contract with Atlantic Records in the late 1960s. The rest is music history. Roberta's most recent album is a 1997 anthology of Christmas standards simply titled "Christmas Album".

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Ann Lydia Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After several moves, his family settled in Danville, Illinois. Gene grew up in a broken home, which he left at the age of sixteen for a hitch with the US Marines.

Moving to New York after being discharged, he worked in a number of menial jobs before studying journalism and television production on the G.I. Bill at the University of Illinois. Hackman would be over 30 years old when he finally decided to take his chance at acting by enrolling at the Pasadena Playhouse. Legend says that Hackman and friend Dustin Hoffman were voted "least likely to succeed."

Hackman next moved back to New York, where he worked in summer stock and off-Broadway. In 1964 he was cast as the young suitor in the Broadway play "Any Wednesday." This role would lead to him being cast in the small role of Norman in Lilith (1964), starring Warren Beatty. When Beatty was casting for Bonnie and Clyde (1967), he cast Hackman as Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow's brother. That role earned Hackman a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, an award for which he would again be nominated in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). In 1972 he won the Oscar for his role as Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971). At 40 years old Hackman was a Hollywood star whose work would rise to new heights with Night Moves (1975) and Bite the Bullet (1975), or fall to new depths with The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and Eureka (1983). Hackman is a versatile actor who can play comedy (the blind man in Young Frankenstein (1974)) or villainy (the evil Lex Luthor in Superman (1978)). He is the doctor who puts his work above people in Extreme Measures (1996) and the captain on the edge of nuclear destruction in Crimson Tide (1995). After initially turning down the role of Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992), Hackman finally accepted it, as its different slant on the western interested him. For his performance he won the Oscar and Golden Globe and decided that he wasn't tired of westerns after all. He has since appeared in Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), and The Quick and the Dead (1995).

Trachtenberg grew up in Brooklyn and started her acting career young; she began appearing in commercials at the age of 3.

She continued to act and dance through her school years, making regular television appearances from the age of 10. She landed a recurring role in the kids' TV show The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1992) and starred in Harriet the Spy (1996), but it was her role as Buffy's sister Dawn from the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) that really brought her to worldwide attention, and all before she was 18 years old.

More high profile TV and movie work followed.

New York City born David Johansen sang in Rock & Roll dance bands as a teenager, joining Charles Ludlum's Ridiculous Theater and starting the New York Dolls.

The highly influential Dolls made two iconic Rock & Roll records before disbanding in the mid seventies. At this time he created the David Johansen Group which recorded six highly acclaimed albums and toured hits such as "Funky but Chic" for the next ten years. Simultaneously he began performing Jump Blues, Calypso, and "Pre-Hayes code Rock & Roll" under the name Buster Poindexter The success of these shows led to Buster Poindexter's touring four swinging internationally acclaimed CD's.

During this time, in addition to his musical career, Johansen started appearing in various movies , including Let It Ride (1989) and Scrooged (1988), as well as making various television appearances, including a season on Saturday Night Live (1975).

Eleonora Giorgi was born on 21 October 1953 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She was an actress and director, known for Talcum Powder (1982), Love, Lies, Kids... & Dogs (2003) and Cuore di cane (1976). She was married to Massimo Ciavarro and Angelo Rizzoli Jr.. She died on 3 March 2025 in Rome, Italy.

Dieuwertje Blok was born on 8 August 1957 in Nederhorst den Berg, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. She was an actress, known for Sinterklaasjournaal (2001), Sextet (2007) and Baantjer (1995). She was married to Peter de Bie and Paul de Bruin. She died on 2 March 2025 in Aerdenhout, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Kathryn Apanowicz (born Pudsey, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) is a British actress best known for her 1980s television appearances in the BBC soap operas, Angels, where she played Nurse Rose Butchins, and EastEnders, where she played the caterer Magda Czajkowski. She has also had minor roles in Emmerdale Farm (1972) and Coronation Street (1960), and as a child appeared in the film Bugsy Malone. Before being cast in these shows, Apanowicz had worked in children's programmes for Yorkshire Television with Mark Curry.

In the early 1990s she presented talk-based magazine programme Afternoon Live for cable channel Wire TV. In 2000, she enjoyed a regular stint as one of the presenters of ITV's daytime magazine show for women, Live Talk. She was both a presenter for BBC Radio Leeds, and a guest presenter for BBC Radio York.

From 1994 to 2005, Apanowicz was the partner of Countdown host Richard Whiteley. After his death, she published a biography of Whiteley titled Richard by Kathryn. Apanowicz donated three pairs of Whiteley's spectacles to optical charity Vision Aid Overseas (VAO), who sent them with a team of optical professionals to Ethiopia, where they were fitted to three locals with the same prescription. The BBC followed this story on their Inside Out programme which was broadcast on 19 September 2007.

George Lowe is an American voice actor and comedian from Florida who is most well-known for voicing the Hanna-Barbera character Space Ghost in Space Ghost Coast to Coast and The Brak Show. He voiced in other projects such as the narrator in the 2000 Grinch video game, Mr. Beefy and other characters in Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Brak's Dad in The Brak Show.

Peter Engel was born on 30 June 1936 in New York, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Saved by the Bell (1989), USA High (1997) and Last Comic Standing (2003). He was married to Connie Chapman, Linda Carbonetto and Chris Phillips. He died on 4 March 2025 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Roy Ayers was born on 10 September 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Ant-Man (2015), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Jackie Brown (1997). He was married to Argerie Julia Johnson-Ayers. He died on 4 March 2025 in New York City, New York, USA.

Crystal-Donna Roberts was born on 13 October 1984 in Cape Town, South Africa. She was an actress and director, known for Chronicle (2012), Krotoa (2017) and Arendsvlei (2018). She was married to Schalk Cornelessen. She died on 6 March 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Randy Brown was born in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He died on 5 March 2025.

Internationally recognized actress, Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff was the recipient of Germany's Otto Award (in recognition of her status as one of Germany's favorite actresses). Pamela was among just a handful of actresses who have done two television series, concurrently. This multi-talented actress learned how to balance her successful career as well as her personal life. She starred in the motion picture, Castle Rock (2000), with Ernest Borgnine and Alana Austin, Wolf Larson and Frank Gorshin for "TAG Entertainment" (Show Time), under the direction of Craig Clyde. Pamela starred in the comedy, "The Sicilian Bachelor", as "Millian Black" at the American Renegade Theatre in the NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles.

Pamela was best-known for her roles on Baywatch (1989) and Sirens (1993). Pamela managed to create two significant different characters and make them believable on these two series for several seasons (10 years on "Baywatch"). As "Kaye Morgan", she portrayed a cafe owner on "Baywatch" who stays in the mix of things and always lends a helping hand when she feels the necessity. On "Sirens", she portrayed "Ellen Baskin", the top ranking police psychologist, candid and to the point. Up until the final season ago, she was a frequent flyer between the beaches of Los Angeles, to the city of Montreal.

She starred in the motion picture, More Than Puppy Love (2002) (Show Time), that was shot entirely on location in Kansas City, with Diane Ladd, and in a motion picture, Route 66 (1998), in which she starred as the Stepmother, with an all-star cast that includes Diane Ladd, Alana Austin, Richard Moll, Mat McCoy and Bruce Weitz, under the direction of Steve Austin and written and produced by Shauna Leigh Austin.

Pamela made her motion picture debut when legendary director Francis Ford Coppola went to Oklahoma to shoot the hit film, Rumble Fish (1983), co-starring Matt Dillon, Vincent Spano and Mickey Rourke. He auditioned the locals for the other roles and she was hired. Encouraged by professionals about her abilities, she decided to relocate to Los Angeles. To make an income and to continue her education while pursuing her career, Pamela worked as a page on several popular hit series. After a year in California, she moved to New York to pursue her first love, the theatre. Immediately she signed with the Ford Petite Modeling Agency and, shortly thereafter, became one of the top petite models in the Big Apple, and soon adorned the covers of magazines. She co-starred off-Broadway in "Crimes of the Heart" and continued to study and act in various plays for the next two years. Comedy became one of Pamela's foundations, she worked with Joe Piscopo for over two years which included: stage, concert and night club appearances, television specials and guest appearances on the major talk show. She was polishing her craft as Piscopo's side-kick. Then, she landed a special with George Burns, on her own. With Burns, Pamela learned several tricks of the trade and fine-tuned her timing.

Returning to Los Angeles, she accomplished becoming a working actress, guest-starring on several TV shows, specials, MOWs, including George Burns Comedy Week (1985), Cheers (1982), The Young and the Restless (1973), The Fall Guy (1981), Superboy (1988), The Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special (1986), True Confessions (1981), T.J. Hooker (1982), Knight Rider (1982), etc. She starred in several plays, including "Dora", "I Remember Mama" and "Lilion", to name a few. Pamela co-starred in the motion picture, The Appointment (1982) and The Men's Club (1986). Hailing from Tulsa, Oklahoma, she was the middle child of three sisters. Her mother and stepfather were ideal role models and unique parents; they raised 37 foster children throughout the years. Actually, Pamela's performing debut occurred at age nine, when she sang "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" and realized that she loved the stage. Pamela completed two years as an engineering major at Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College and she was an accredited lifeguard, an avid diver (certified scuba diver), skier as well as a top marksman.

Pamela was a working actress/producer... also being a mother of two daughters... as well as president of her own production company.

Dwayne P. Wiggins was born on 14 February 1961 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Species II (1998), Menace II Society (1993) and The Burial (2023). He died on 7 March 2025 in the United States.